CYCLE B 1ST ADVENT
1. What kind of MOOD were you in as the door swung close behind you.
-Were you in a GOOD MOOD?
-Was anyone in a GRUMPY Mood?
-Was your heart was a little heavy and your MOOD then a little SOMBER
Daily experiences can put us in one of many different MOODS. A Mood can be described as the “State of our minds or feelings at any particular moment.” Moods can influence every word we say or course of action we may follow.
2. Some People swing from MOOD to MOOD. Some try to snap out of NEGATIVE MOODS while others love to wallow in them. People try to put us in a MOOD. People are ATTRACTED to moods. Some moods are HELPFUL, others can be DETRIMENTAL. People, places, words, music, events and even substances can be mood ENHANCING or mood ALTERING .
3. While you came here in a Mood, God is here to offer us His DIVINE MOOD. He is here to INVITE YOU and is ready to HELP YOU. His moods are best characterized in the ‘Mood of the Scripture’ that we hear. This Mood of scripture is enhanced as we enter the “Mood of the Liturgical season’. Which today begins the season of Advent.
4. Last week the Mood of the scriptures and church was that we MUST as Catholics through our actions, portray to the world that Jesus is the King. All our songs, readings, Vestments were to help us GET INTO THE MOOD to celebrated the Power and Glory of our Savior Jesus. Our mood if it wasn’t there already, was to be one of AWE and RESPECT for there is no other god like Him. Did your mood keep you from taking on the mind of God?
Today the Church has a big MOOD SWING. Our readings and songs present a different Mood. We wear Violet, the Color of the Kings Robe still, but a color which encourages our Mood to swing to one of SERIOUS SOBRIETY as we prepare our lives for His Coming.
Advent is a time to think seriously about our sins and how our poor choices diminish the importance of Jesus as King in our lives and in the world. The mood of Advent requires us to take on a mood of quietness and seriousness for WATCHING, WAITING, PRAYING and REPENTENCE so we can put things back in their proper perspective. Living the Mind of God!
5, Did you catch the Moods of Isaiah 63-64 today? Wow!! After the destruction of Jerusalem in 587, the Israelites were in Exile in Babylon. In our reading today, the author in the book of Isaiah was expressing the MOODS of the first returnees to Jerusalem after the exile ended. We are to FEEL their great sense of loss. In their return they found a devastated Jerusalem. And most hurtful was seeing the TEMPLE LEVELED. The author while capturing their Mood of DESPAIR, was also bringing out their mood to REPENT. They want God to comeback to enliven their city and temple. “Return for the sake of …your tribes”. “Tear the heavens and come down.” And the prayer goes on… “God you are Angry.” “Lord we are a sinful people.” You have hidden your face from us. “You are the Potter and we are the clay”.
Today we hear a people making a desperate appeal that expresses both empathic urgency for God to return and a stubborn Israelite Faith that says they will turn from sin and be FAITHFUL people again.
6. In the Gospel, what MOOD did you detect? Well know this…the setting of the Gospel is just days before the passion and death of Jesus on the cross. Throughout chapter 13 Jesus is doing his best to prepare his disciples for his forth coming absence, by teaching them to be responsible disciples. His Absence WILL BECOME the trip factor for his Disciples to jump into action. What the apostles do, what the church does or what YOU DO, IN HIS ABSENCE in very important. His mood was one of CONCERN for our READINESS to care for his church. He was not is a Mood to play or horse around.
How many of you, when you leave your house, business, children or pet with someone show a similar CONCERN for the welfare of what your leaving. You want to impart your CONCERN upon their understanding of what it means to be left in charge of your valuables. So you tell them…“Be Constantly on watch. Stay awake!” This human mood for material concerns, is similar to the Divine mood we should have for spiritual concerns.
7. Your MOOD when you walked in the door is of importance for only how it helps or hinders you to TAKE on the MOOD/MIND OF GOD.
-Today… does your Mood keep you from realizing there are actions that put us in a state of Exile from God. How having abandoned God ways, can put our lives in ruins. The Mood, the Mind of God tells us to change and be faithful to Him once again.
-Today… does your mood keep you from realizing you have been left in charge of something. God wants us to be in a Mood of awareness and deep concern for those that we are responsible for.
8. Today If your were not in the Mood to allow God to come into your life and change it and make it better….then Advent says…you better get into the mood. For there is a time coming, when His Anger will not be held in abeyance. The time will come, when His mood to use words to correct will turn to a Mood of letting His Justice prevail. And you don’t want to be on the wrong end of that. What mood are you in Now?
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